FileMaker Provides The Big Picture For Leading International Illustrator

www.holytrousers.com

Leading freelance illustrator Jon Berkeley, whose work frequently appears in top selling titles such as Time Magazine, Time Out, The Economist, The Washington Post and the South China Morning Post, has completely streamlined his approach to business administration and management through the use of FileMaker Pro.
As well as editorial work, Jon also has worked for major advertising agency clients such as Bozell, Saatchi and Saatchi, McCann Erickson, Campbell Grey, DDB Needham, and BBDO. He also provides illustrations for children's books for publishers Oxford University Press and Scholastic.

According to Jon: "The variety of customers I work for, coupled with the laws of chaos that seem to have formed a vortex in my studio, meant I needed a database system which would replace my previous hit-and-miss approach to job tracking and give me something more comprehensive and less time-consuming. Having previously designed an invoicing database in 4D, I found the switch to FileMaker a real pleasure. I learned the basics in a couple of hours, and set about designing a comprehensive and idiot-proof system which would make it easy to track a job from the moment the brief arrives until the job is completed and the invoice paid."

Click here to enlarge

Click here to enlarge

Jon's database consists of five main tables that include a client database (including both existing customers and prospects), a job-sheet, Euro invoices, non-Euro invoices, and a daily Update section.

Clients and prospect details are contained on individual "cards". These contain not just standard details such as names, phone numbers, email addresses of creative and accounting personnel, but other useful information such as invoicing currency, credit terms, contact history, artwork notes and invoicing.

Says Jon: "It is crucial that I know who an invoice should be sent to, and whether it should be CC'd to someone else in the accounts department. This ensures it doesn't end up lost down the back of an art director's desk!"

The next key module is the job sheet that combines all information relevant to a particular job. As each brief comes in, Jon opens a new record. This contains all relevant client details, including artwork and invoicing notes drawn from the client database table, as well as a brief particular to that job. It also allows for inclusion of deadlines for sketches and finished artwork, as well as the information needed to generate the invoice.

In addition, the database contains a time-tracking function which means Jon's fees can be calculated by the hour or (as is more common with illustration jobs) a pre-agreed fee. In the latter case, the job sheet table makes a calculation to see how jobs compare in terms of the resulting hourly rate.

The job sheet also serves as an archive to provide easy access to details of previous jobs. It features a container field in which a thumbnail of the image is stored when a job is completed, and fields for recording subsequent licensing of the same image for stock usage, as well as any awards or other usages and current location of the original artwork. Invoice generation is via a one-click process. Depending on the currency specified in the client card, the invoice is either written to the "Euro invoice" or "World invoice" table. All invoice details are thus automatically supplied from the client table and the job sheet table.

Jon's database thus contains two invoice tables: one for Euro invoices and one for non-Euro currencies. The non-euro invoices table contains a field for the current exchange rate, which means an approximate Euro total can also be calculated. All invoices contain a thumbnail of the illustration, imported from the job sheet, which has been very helpful in reminding creative personnel at the client side to sign off an invoice, as well as in making it stand out when it reaches the accounts department.

However, as Jon himself explains: "Probably the best part of the system is the Update page, which launches when I turn on my computer. This section updates itself automatically and lists all my current and upcoming jobs along with their deadlines. It also lists the clients who I am due to get in touch with, and all outstanding invoices with their due dates. It gives me a totally up to date to-do list at the start of each day, which undoubtedly saves me many hours each week and is a huge improvement on my previous system of rummaging through piles of paper checking for anything printed in red ink."

The Update table contains a number of portals:

Artwork due: this displays deadlines for current and upcoming jobs and their status in words, relative to the current date. The relationship that governs this portal determines that all jobs remain listed until they have been invoiced, so Jon doesn't forget to invoice promptly.

Sketches due: In the jobs table, where a sketch stage is required, the sketch deadline is displayed here, along with its status in words. Again, the job disappears from this portal once the sketches are approved.

Contacts due: Data here is drawn from the "next contact" date in the client card, which reminds Jon to chase prospective clients, and those current ones he has not dealt with for a while. He can also read here a reminder of the last contact he has had with them.

Invoices due: These two portals draw information from both the Euro and non-Euro invoices tables. They contain only pending invoices, and also show the invoice status in words. The portals are subtotaled, with a grand total of all outstanding fees in Euro. If this falls below a certain level, it acts as prompt to focus on new business generation.
All of the portals feature a button beside each record, which opens the related record in a popup window if more detail is required.
In conclusion, Jon says: "Without doubt, FileMaker is the simplest and most useful organisational tool I've ever come across. You don't need to be a genius to put it together, but you certainly feel like one by the time you've finished!"